A DIY Awesome Soft Giant Jenga Game For Kids

I’m super excited to share this idea with you, today! Have you seen the  Giant Jenga games on Pinterest? I’ve been searching Pinterest for fun summer games and I’ve seen it over and over. I was crazy enough to let the PTO talk me into hosting our fifth-grade graduation party, and I’m looking for only the most awesome and realistic games for kids. I know better than to pick a game that makes me fill up 500 water balloons and transport them to the school. I also know that a Giant Jenga game made out of wooden 2×4 blocks mixed with 60 fifth graders is a bad idea! So…I went hunting for an alternative to wood. I knew just the section I wanted to track down at my local Menards, and BINGO, I’ve got it! Here’s my tutorial on my Soft Giant Jenga Game For Kids!

My kids couldn’t stop playing this! It’s so much fun! 

Honestly, this has got to be one of my all time favorites on this blog! Love this game!

And, there it goes! The kids stacked these up about 12 times, and played all afternoon! I’m so excited to do this with the fifth graders, but I’m also excited to bring this back home for summer fun!

For this Awesome Soft Jenga Game Idea, You’re Gonna Need:

• 1 4′ x 8 ‘ Foam board – found by the insulation sheets in Menards
• A Knife to cut the Foam
• Measuring tape or a ruler 
•  3 rolls of Duck Tape – Don’t get the cutsie ones, they cost way too much and they will run out instantly. Grab some heavy duty big rolls  while you are at Menards!

• Do beware – These sheets won’t fit in most minivans! A very nice man at Menards helped me cut my sheet while it stuck out of my van! “Where there is a will there is a way”, is what I always say!
• I don’t really recommend cutting your board on the grass as I did. It sort of looked like snow when I was done.
• I guess you could place something under it. 🙂 I learn a lot through my first tries! Good for you…not really for me. 

• You’re going to want your boards to be about 4 inches wide by 12 inches long – Don’t worry if they are not exact. Try to keep them as close to 4 as you can, but don’t worry if you go 1/2 inch wider
• Go through and cut the 4-inch sections and then come back to cut those 12 inches long – You’ll get 3 Jenga pieces from one section 
• You’ll need a total of 54 pieces for a Jenga Game

• This is a bad example of duct tape because I thought I could use the cute stuff! Wrongo! See, good for you, bad for me! 
• Mr. Smartie Pants in the PVC section of Menards (that’s another awesome summer game, coming soon!) asked about my huge Styrofoam piece. When I told him about my Jenga idea, he said won’t they stick to each other? See, I don’t always think the whole thing through. Thank goodness for smart people in my life. 
• That’s when I thought of taping a piece of Duck Tape to give the styrofoam a slippery feel – Works like a charm!
• You’ll also notice that I taped all of the ways around the brick. I basically made a giant x – Once around on the edges and then once around on the flat sides
• The edges are taped so it won’t snow every time you play the game! – See, I can be a smartie pants sometimes, too!

I’m most definitely a mom that likes to have a ton of fun with the kids! And this, my friend, is a TON OF FUN!!! 

• Don’t forget to pin this and share the fun – Oh, and REALLY don’t forget to sign up for my free newsletter so you don’t miss the next Awesome Game! 

~Melissa – KidFriendlyThingsToDo.com